‘Nabbed suspected kidnapper of toddlers is a specialist’

Suspected kidnapper, Ruth Okoronkwo, who was arrested by the Army’s 20 Model Battalion at Serti in Gashaka Local Government Area of Taraba State and handed over to the police for further investigation, is a specialist in the trade, it was learnt.

Ruth, 37, was apprehended at a checkpoint at Sabon Gida, along Jalingo-Wukari Road. She was nabbed among a three-man gang who allegedly abducted two toddlers aged one and two.

One of the children hails from Adamawa State, while the other is from Iware in Taraba State, the Army said.

The parade of the suspected kidnappers came after Governor Darius Ishaku last month signed into law, an anti-kidnapping Act prescribing death penalty for offenders.

When Lt. Col. Musa Adamu paraded the three suspects at the weekend, before handing them to the Police Headquarters in Jalingo, Ruth confessed the crime, but claimed she was a novice in the act.

She said she has been recruited to kidnap infants for a fee.

“This is my first time of doing something like this. I was promised N50,000 if I could assist kidnap some children. I will not do it again if I am freed,” she said.